


A Piece of Cake

by happyaspie



Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [14]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Baking, Banter, Precious Peter Parker, Quality Time, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor, Tony Stark's Birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-06-27 23:23:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19799893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: Peter wants to make a cake and asks his mentor for help.  Tony reluctantly agrees not realizing what the kid is actually up to.  ...but once he figures it out... his heart feels full.





	A Piece of Cake

Tony's morning started with a phone call. A very vague phone call and under most circumstances, that would be concerning or aggravating, However, in this case, it was _Peter_ andtherefore unsurprising. The kid had called at the first flush of the morning asking if he could come over. "I have a project, that I need help with.", he'd said with no real explanation and Tony was entire to _not awake_ to press.

"Whatever, kid but you had better not show up before noon, I swear to--", Tony half-heartedly grumbled into the phone. He knew he wasn't actually getting back to sleep but it was nice to pretend.

"--I won't!", Peter promised with a small laugh. He hadn't really thought it through when he'd called his mentor that early in the morning. "It's fine. I need to do some, uh, research? ...and get some supplies... actually, um, do you think you could--"

"--Yes, it's fine. Whatever you need.", Tony interjected, knowing what Peter was getting at. He'd gotten used to being roped into buying random supplies for random projects that the kid randomly came up with. Of course, once he'd agreed, his slightly less sleep-addled brain raised a red flag for him. "...wait, this isn't something dangerous or anything right?"

"Of course not, Mr. Stark!", Peter legitimately laughed this time while holding his hands up in defense despite the fact that it wasn't a video call.

"Does May know about it?"

This was where Peter faltered a bit causing Tony to inwardly groan. "I mean, sort of? She doesn't _not_ know about it... maybe not all the details or--"

"--am I going to get in trouble for this?", Tony shot out in concern. The kid had a tendency to get excited and drag him into things that he maybe shouldn't have allowed himself to get dragged into. _Some people_ would say it was his own fault, that he was the adult there but Peter was... impressively persuasive. It was a _skill._ Tony couldn't help it that the kid _had skills_.

"Absolutely not. Promise.", Peter firmly assured before confirming that he would be there right at noon with a shopping list.

~o~o~o~o~o~

At twelve o'clock on the absolute dot, Peter was skipping into Tony's living room where the man was waiting for him with a spread of Chinese food on the table in front of him. "I went out on a limb and figured that you would be too excited to get here and _accidentally_ skip lunch. ...and even if you didn't you would eat it anyway, so come get a fork. I got you some Mushu Pork."

"Thanks, Mr. Stark!", Peter said as he hopped over the back of the couch and landed squarely on the middle cushion beside his mentor. 

"You know that's bad for my couch right?", the man asked casually as he started scooping some rice into his carton of Szechwan Chicken. 

"Sorry.", Peter managed to mumble out past his mouth full of eggroll. "I have a list of everything we need. Are you going to come with me?"

"Depends. Where are you going? ...and you still haven't told me what exactly this project it, by the way.", Tony easily replied.

"Oh!", Peter excitedly exclaimed as he sat down the carton of food he's literally just picked up. "It's a friend's birthday. I want to make him a cake."

Tony's looked at the boy as if he'd grown a second head. Why on Earth would the kid want his help with _a cake_? He was Tony Stark. He didn't bake. That would be absurd. "A cake. Are you serious?"

"Mm-hmm. I've never done it before though, so I thought I would ask you to help me. It's not like I can ask May. You've eaten her cooking."

"I don't bake.", Tony flatly returned. "I don't even know _how to bake._ "

"Me either!", Peter defended. "I mean I've never done it _before_ but how hard can it be? It's literally just science, right, Mr. Stark? We can do science."

Tony took a deep breath and looked at the kid who appeared to be deadly serious beside him. "Kid. How about I give you some money and you can run into the Costco on your way home?"

Rolling his eyes, Peter huffed. "That's not the same, Mr. Stark. I want to _make it_. Come on it'll be fun.", Peter eagerly implored. "Besides, it will be a _learning experience_. You want me to learn right?"

"Of course I want you to learn. ... and your next lesson is, 'How to go Online and Order a Cake from Costco'.", Tony mockingly replied. 

Glaring in the man's direction Peter crossed his arms firmly over his chest. "You're incorrigible."

Tony huffed a laugh. "So I've heard.", he said with a smile before giving in to his adorably annoyed mentee. "Fine, we'll make the stupid cake. ... but you're going to the store all by yourself. Tony Stark does not grocery shop."

~o~o~o~o~o~

A couple of hours later, Peter and Tony were standing the kitchen surrounded by the numerous bags that Peter had returned with. "What all did you buy, kid? I thought we were making a cake, not starting a bakery?"

Shrugging his shoulder's Peter began to unpack the bags. "I got some extra stuff in case we messed up." It had seemed like the reasonable thing to do at the time and it wasn't like the man couldn't afford it.

"Where are the almonds I asked for?", Tony asked as he started searching through the bags. 

Peter froze and looked up at his mentor with a sheepish smile. "Um..."

"Oh, for crying out loud! I asked you for one thing!", Tony nearly shouted before reeling it in with a good-natured roll of his eyes. It was annoying but it wasn't the end of the world.

"I can go back!", Peter assured. He hadn't meant to forget, they just weren't on his list and he had been singularly focused. Though, he did feel bad about it. 

"No, let's get this over with.", Tony sighed out having already come to terms with the fact that he wasn't going to be snacking on any almonds that day. "What do we need to do first?"

Peter pulled up a website on his phone and set it on the counter. After a few moments of reading, he finally got around to announcing the first step. "Well, it says to butter and flour three six-inch pans. Wait... do you have pans?", Peter asked in hesitation. It hadn't occurred to him that he might need to purchase those also. 

"I have everything.", Tony quipped from the countertop where he was sitting. If Pepper had been there she would have been all over him for that, but she wasn't, so there he sat. 

"But you said you don't bake...", Peter replied in mild confusion. 

"Yeah, well, that doesn't mean I'm not _prepared_ for everything.", Tony scoffed as he gestured towards one of the pantry doors along the wall. "Just go get the pans, they should be in that pantry over there."

Peter rummaged around in the pantry for some time before reemerging. "How do you know which ones are which size?", he asked holding up two different-sized pans. One ever so slightly smaller than the other.

"How many sizes are there?", Tony asked, never making a move to get up from where he sat. He hadn't actually been the one to buy any of that stuff. He'd paid someone else to stock the kitchen for him long before he ever moved in.

"Um... like, three or four.", Peter returned as he went back into the pantry to rummage around a bit more. "I don't know. You come to look."

Sighing, Tony got down and crossed the kitchen. "Just get some middle-sized ones.", he suggested as he looked over Peter's shoulder at the various pots and pans lining the shelves. 

"Should we measure them?", Peter asked in hesitation. He really wanted to get this right and the recipe had been very specific.

"No. Just get some pans. It'll be fine.", Tony readily replied. He couldn't imagine how an inch or two would matter. It was cake, not a time bomb, how exact did it really need to be?

"I don't know... It seems pretty precise, Mr. Stark. I think we should follow the directions.", Peter unsurely called from the closet. 

"Following isn't what I do, kid.", Tony cooly replied as he leaned back on the door frame. 

"I'm measuring it.", Peter eventually declared. "Do you have a tape measure?"

"Geez.", Tony gave in with a wave of his hand. "If it's that important to you, just aks FRIDAY."

"That's an option? Why didn't you say that before!", Peter practically screeched. "FRIDAY? Which ones?" When the AI indicated that the pan he was holding in his right hand was of the correct size, he scooped up two more like and exited back into the kitchen. When he did so, Tony grabbed them out of his hands and sat down at the table with a stick of butter.

"I've got this part, what's next Kid.", he called out as he began to run the butter over the edges of the cake pans.

"It says to sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Including the sugar.", Peter read out loud before looking inquisitively across the room. "I wonder why it has to specify that the sugar is a dry ingredient. That seems weird. Don't you think, Mr. Stark?"

"The fact that I'm baking a cake at all is weird, Kiddo.", Tony blandly replied as he continued to dutifully fulfill his task. 

After several minutes of scooping, Peter finally set the measuring cups and spoon to the side. "Okay, that's done. Next we-- Wait!", Peter shouted in near horror. "I think I mixed up the baking powder and the baking soda. Did you see which one I added second?"

"No. I was buttering and flouring pans.", Tony deadpanned from across the kitchen. He'd long since been done with his portion but he didn't want to outright say that he wasn't actually paying attention to what the kid was doing. "What's the difference?"

"I don't know. Do you want me to look it up?", Peter asked already wiping off his hands and flipping through his phone. 

"No. I want to get done.", Tony answered with a sigh. "Do we need to start over?", he added with slight irritation. 

"Maybe...", Peter admitted, a pink blush coming up on his cheeks as he carried the bowl over to the trash and started dumping it out. In his rush to sift through all of the ingredients all over again, things started to get a bit chaotic and he knocked the bag of flour off of the counter. 

"Ugh. You're getting flour all over the floor. I hope you plan on cleaning that up.", Tony groaned as he watched his floor become a white-dusted mess. 

"I will. Relax about it.", Peter laughed as he started to wipe up some of the mess.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Tony decided to take some initiative while the kid cleaned up his mess. "What's next I'll start that part.", he asked as he stood up from the table and wandered towards where Peter's phone was still resting on the counter.

Hurrying over to his phone, Peter started to search for the next step. "Oh. It says to, um, beat the milk, sour cream, butter, vanilla, and egg whites together until combined and not to worry if you see little clumps of butter. That sounds easy enough.", he said with a nod of his head but before going back to the mess on the floor he noticed Tony was giving him a look.

"Are you sure it says _sour cream_? That doesn't sound right...", the man uttered as he stared at the small tub, Peter had left out on the counter. They were making cake not dip. Genius he may be, but there was no way the kid had read that correctly.

"Yes! Look it says it right there.", Peter hurriedly replied as he scurried up to his mentor's side and pointed to the ingredients list. "A half of a cup of sour cream."

"If this turns out gross it's on you.", Tony said with a laugh as he began to scoop out the prescribed amount of baked potato topping.

"The website named it The Best Vanilla Cake. Why would they lie about that, Mr. Stark?", Peter asked with amusement. He'd done his research. It had four-point nine stars! I had to be good.

"It's the internet, kid. They lie all the time but this is your project so, sour cream it is.", Tony drawled out as he finished separating the last egg, making a small noise of annoyance when it didn't quite go his way. "You done with that mess over there? I think I've got this part ready."

Peter hopped up off the floor and washed his hands before coming over to inspect Tony's handy work. After looking into the bowl for mear seconds he was scrunching up his face in some unreadable expression. "It's supposed to be egg _whites,_ Mr. Stark.", Peter mentioned, much to Tony's further annoyance. 

"It is egg whites!", the man guardedly supplied as he pointed towards the small bowl holding two intact yolks and one, partially scrambled one. 

"No, look there's some yellow part in it right there.", Peter said with determination as he pointed towards what was indeed a very small amount of yolk.

"It's _minuscule_ , kid. The yolk broke a little. It'll be fine.", Tony assured, not prepared to remeasure all of those ingredients too. 

"Fine, but _if this turns out gross it's on you.",_ Peter playfullymocked gaining him a gentle thump on the back of the head.

_"_ I'm pretty sure my speck of yolk is going to be far less offensive than you're half of a cup of _sour cream",_ Tony said with a teasing smile. He had no idea how this was going to turn out but he had to admit it was slightly interesting. Then again, anything involving Peter usually turned out to be interesting. The kid could make any chore entertaining. It was another one of his skills.

_"_ Whatever, Mr. Stark.", Peter said with a smile as he moved on to the next step. "Next we have to mix it all together."

_"_ Go for it, kiddo.", Tony said with a wave of his hand. As he wiped off part of the counter so he could sit on it again. 

As Peter started to spoon the two bowls into one, he paused. "Did we pre-heat the oven?", he asked as he tried to look over his shoulder to check while still holding onto the bowl of wet ingredients, nearly dropping it. 

Tony gasped and jumped down from the counter to grab the bowl that Peter was holding precariously over the edge of the counter. It looked like he was seconds from pouring it all over the floor in his rush to look at the oven. "No. You never said anything about that. What temperature?", Tony asked once he was satisfied that the ingredients he'd so carefully measured were now safely into the other bowl.

"Um... three-hundred-and-forty degrees.", Peter read as he started mixing everything together. 

"That's a weird number...", Tony muttered as he leaned over the oven's controls. He'd never baked a cake... but he'd baked other things and they typically cooked at three-hundred-and-fifty. Then again, the mix they had put together called for sour cream so it wasn't like the over setting wasn't the weirdest thing about this whole recipe.

"I don't know, that's just what it says...", Peter replied feeling a little miffed himself. All he was doing was reading the steps out loud. It wasn't like he was making it all up.

Realizing he'd struck a nerve, Tony softened his tone. "It's whatever, kid.", he said as he patted the boy on the back. "What next."

"Pour it evenly into the pans.", Peter recited, having already read that several minutes ago. As he started to reach into the bowl with a large spoon, he scrunched his brow up in thought. "How do you know if you've done it evenly?"

"I think you just eyeball it, kid.", Tony readily came back. 

Peter hesitated for a moment as he shifted from foot to foot. "Maybe we should measure it, Mr. Stark.", he carefully suggested. They'd gotten this far and he didn't want to mess it up. Besides, there was a giant measuring bowl in the pantry. He'd thought it was some sort of a joke at first but now it made sense. 

"Absolutely not. That sounds like a mess, just give me the bowl.", Tony scoffed as he quickly grabbed the spoon from the kid's hands. After some equally numbered scoops of batter had been placed into each pan, he went back a made a hand full of meticulous adjustments. "There, see, they look even to me"

"I think that one has more in it.", Peter taunted from where he's climbed up onto the counter to sit as Tony divided up the batter.

"It's fine!", Tony fussed, protectively holding onto the spoon he'd been using to prevent the kid from snatching it from him. "...and get your spider-butt off my counter. Only I get to sit up there."

"Fine.", Peter offhandedly replied before sliding his feet back down to the floor. "Now it says to add wet cake strips to the pans. ...Do you know what that means?"

"I don't bake, kid.", Tony reiterated. 

"FRIDAY?", Peter asked, looking vaguely towards the ceiling. Then, when the AI read off a short definition that had been found on a baking website, Peter turned towards his mentor. "Do you have those?" They seemed like an oddly specific bit of bakeware. He'd never even heard of such a thing.

"Nope."

"I thought you said you have everything?", Peter asked with sarcasm. 

"Well, I don't have that.", Tony said with a roll of his eyes. From there, FRIDAY dutifully explained the process of evening out the layers by cutting off the tops once the baking process was complete. It sounded like a pain in the neck but apparently, it was going to have to be a thing so Tony sighed in defeat. "Okay, oven?"

"Yep.",Peter chirped, already carrying the pans one at a time across the room. Once he was done was standing back in front of Tony, smiling with absolute glee. "Now we make the frosting."

"Can't you use the canned stuff?", Tony whined. He thought they were done with this for the day and was more than ready to move onto something a little more... technical.

"Nope.", Peter happily replied as he set to work getting out the handful of things they would need. "We need another bowl."

"Here. I'm done.", Tony said as he handed over yet another bowl from under the cabinets. Then he sat himself back up on the counter to watch as the spiderling continued to make a mess of his kitchen. Not that he minded too much. Peter was good company and despite his teasing, knew that the kid would clean it all up when they were finished. 

"That's fine with me. Then I get to lick the spoon.", Peter bantered with a smile. 

Tony, smiled at the childish excitement. "That's gross kid.", he said with as much seriousness as he could feign at the moment.

Ignoring his mentor, Peter continued to mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla, tasting it a few times along the way, _just to be sure_. Once he had deemed the frosting to be of the perfect taste and texture he tossed the large spoon into the sink. "Done!", he shouted with a smile. "How much longer until the cakes are ready?"

"I don't know. How long do they take?", Tony asked, suddenly realizing that they had never discussed that part. 

"Thirty to thirty-five minutes. How long has it been?", Peter asked. He'd never looked at the clock or set a timer or anything. It didn't occur to him. Usually, if he was cooking he used the microwave and that did all the timing for him. All had to do was press the button.

"Uhh...", Tony said in a mild panic. The last thing he wanted to do was burn it and have to start over. They were so close to being done. "FRIDAY?"

"It has been twenty-seven minutes boss.", the AI replied much to his relief. They hadn't messed it up.

"They've been in for twenty-seven minutes.", Tony teasingly repeated as if the AI hadn't announced that information seconds before.

"Gee Thanks, Mr. Stark.", Peter deadpanned. "I'm glad you were keeping track."

"You're welcome.", Tony said with a smile as he watched Peter continue to take small bites of the frosting he'd made. "Give me a spoon of that."

"No. You said was gross.", Peter cheekily replied before going to get yet another clean spoon from the drawer. 

"I changed my mind. Gimme"

~o~o~o~o~o~

It was over an hour later when the finally got the cake cooled and frosted. It didn't look like the picture and it was by no means any kind of professional but for a first try, it seemed alright. "It looks good, kid. I think your friend is going to love it.", Tony praised as they started wiping down the counters together.

"You really think so?", Peter asked with slight trepidation. He was well aware that it didn't look neat or smooth like the picture did but he'd _tried_ and if nothing else he knew the frosting was good.

"Yep.", Tony assured with a gentle pat to the boy's shoulder. "It's going to be great."

Grinning ear to ear at the compliment, Peter decided to let the man in on his own little secret. "Happy Birthday Mr. Stark.", he said with every bit of love he could force into those words.

"What?", Tony asked, in confusion. The kid had said he was making it for a friend and _was it his birthday?_ He tended to lose track of those sorts of things but Pepper hadn't mentioned anything. Then again, she was out of the country for another couple of days. As he was trying to think back to whether or not she had said anything about it before she'd left, he was pulled out of his head.

"Today's you're birthday. May twenty-ninth.", Peter calmly explained. Pepper had told him weeks ago that he was likely to forget when he'd asked her opinion on his idea for the day. That's why he'd been so careful to not say anything before. He'd wanted it to be a surprise.

"That's today?", Tony asked, feeling a bit embarrassed for not knowing what day it was before another realization hit him. "Wow. You duped me in to making my own cake huh?"

"No, I a _sked you for help_. Besides, it was fun. I like doing stuff with you, Mr. Stark.", Peter said with a smile, leaning into the hand that was still resting on his shoulder.

"Thank's, kid.", Tony replied honestly. Then, all of a sudden he had the desire to give the kid a hug. With very little hesitation he gave in to the urge and pulled the boy into his chest. After a few moments of affection, Tony pulled away and held Peter at arm's length, studying his still smiling face. "Should we eat some cake?"

"Definitely.", Peter replied as he ran over to the one bag he hadn't unpacked and pulled out the candles as well as some red and gold paper plates with napkins. Tony laughed at the gesture and went to fetch a knife. 

Tony lit the candles and Peter sang while Tony pretended to be impatient and rolled his eyes when he was demanded to make a wish. However, the truth was this as one of the best birthdays he could remember. Once the large sliced were on the plates, Tony took a hesitant first bite as Peter watched with anticipation. "Is it gross?", the boy asked after a moment or two.

"Nope. It's actually really good. Sour cream and all. ...Here you try it", he said with a laugh as he grabbed a small piece from his plate and unceremoniously shoved it into Peter's face.

Seemingly unfazed by his mentor's juvenile actions, Peter smeared the cake into his mouth. "Mm-hmm. It is good. I think we did it, Mr, Stark."

"Sure did", Tony said fondly from across the table. "Maybe we can do it again sometime."

"That would be fun and I bet we could do it even better next time.", Peter suggested while shoveling the confection into his mouth.

Tony shook his head as he watched the boy sitting across from him. "Maybe. ...but even if we didn't this was good and you were right, it was fun."

"Thank you for letting me come over and eat cake. I bet you have all kinds of other more interesting plans for tonight.", Peter uttered in honesty. He knew his gesture wasn't much in comparison to what the billionaire could do himself or whatever Pepper could plan for him but he did what he could. All he wanted to do was to make sure the man knew that he cared about him and maybe spend some extra with him.

"Kid, I have celebrated my birthday short of a dinner with Pepper in years. ...this was, well, fun.", Tony replied, well aware that he was repeating himself but he couldn't seem to come up with any other words as the boy smiled back at him with pride. "Best birthday I've had in a long time. Thanks, kid." 

**Author's Note:**

> The recipe Peter was using in this story can be found [here](https://preppykitchen.com/1448-2/)


End file.
